Monday, May 19
Reaching Breaking Point
Why won't Thursday come any quicker?!?!? I'm am so, so excited about seeing The Matrix: Reloaded on Thursday I can't stand it. I must have listened to the soundtrack CD about 50 times since I got it on Saturday, and the actual film's score on the second CD just makes we want to see it even more. There's crescendos everywhere, which bodes very well for the film. Even if there is one point which makes me think of The Snowman. You know, the classic kid's Christmas cartoon from the mid-80s? Anyway, there's a little bit on the last track of the score CD which sounds like it's going to break into the music from The Snowman. I won't bother trying to describe it hear, because it's impossible to do it. Just picture me humming the tune or something. Let your imagination do the work.
I figured that I should reward myself today for all of the hard work I've done in the past fortnight (and the past year, to be honest), so I got up (relatively) early, and walked into Hampstead. I love Hampstead, it makes you forget that you're in London. Very picturesque and quaint, for want of a better word. Anyway, I went to Cafe Rouge for a big fried breakfast, which was worth every penny, and sat and read my book (Porno, by Irvine Welsh) in there for a while.
But damn you Waterstone's. Damn you and your "3 for 2 paperbacks" sale! Books have become my new vice since I've been at uni. I used to be addicted to CDs, buying at least 3 every month, but that's dwindled slightly to be replaced by books. I've got a wicked collection of books now, some classic greats, and a lot of very modern cult-classics. Plus some random stuff that I just enjoy reading. Today I picked up Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, Globalization And Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz and Twelve by Nick McDonnell.
A bit of anti-globalisational feeling coming through there, I feel. I'm not that much of an anti-globalist, or anti-corporations or anything like that, I just like to know that our rose-tinted view of the world that we're shown by the TV networks and the brands isn't 100% true. I think No Logo, by Naomi Klein, first started this in me. Some of the things in that book frighten me. Export Processing Zones for one. Go have a quick Google search for them, and see what goes on there. Twelve is a novel along the lines of Bret Easton Ellis, or so the cover says. Bret Easton Ellis wrote American Psycho, which is one of the best books that I have ever read. It's horrifically violent, but it paints an accurate picture of the culture which the late 80s thrived on and incubated. Apparently Twelve is like that, but for the 90s. I almost picked up Branded, which is a bit like No Logo, but concentrates on how teenagers are / have been targeted by the marketing people. Being 19 now, and fairly brand-oriented, I'm interested to read this, just to see how many of my favourite ad campaigns have been specifically targeted at myself and my peers.
Underworld - A Hundred Days Off (The album)
Matrix Reloaded OST (Repeatedly)
